REGIONAL PATTERN AND CHARACTERISTICS OF ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS IN SEVERAL MEDICINAL PLANTS USING SPECTROMETRIC METHODS COMBINED WITH MULTIVARIATE STATISTICAL APPROACHES

The aim of this study was to provide a regional pattern and characteristics of essential elements in several medicinal plants from North Macedonia and Romania. The content of Ca, Mg, Al, Fe, Cu, Ba and Zn was determined by ICP-OES while Na and K by FAES in some medicinal plants belonging to sixteen families. Similar profiles of elements with a high content of Ca, Mg and K were observed. Peppermint and blackberry from both countries showed extreme content in Al and Fe. A symmetric distribution for K, Ca and Zn and an asymmetric one for Na, Al, Fe and Ba were found in medicinal plants from both countries. Potassium, Ca, Mg, Al and Fe could be considered as markers for growing area. Principal Component Analysis highlighted that the variability of elements content was described by four factors (83.4%) in North Macedonia and three factors (70.0%) in Romania. The first factor could explain the influence of soil nature upon variability of elemental composition, calcareous in North Macedonia (Mg and Ca - 29.4% variance) and a rich one in hydroxides in Romania (Al and Fe - 33.1 % variance).